NIU alum’s first novel based on author’s diary of days in DeKalb

DeKALB – Ed Posega decided that Corn Fest weekend would be the perfect time to launch his first novel, “Kish: A man, a town, a river, and proof that life is more myth than reality,” based largely on his diary entries as a Northern Illinois University student from 1989 through 1991.

“Corn Fest has become kind of a homecoming for a lot of us,” Posega said.

Posega began working on the book in 2009, exactly 20 years after he started keeping the diaries. While he was studying political philosophy at NIU, his outlook on life changed when he “rediscovered ways of reading old books.” He said locals will recognize some of the businesses and people mentioned in the book, and he hopes everyone who reads it will relate to the main character, who is struggling and hiding some things from himself.

“I try to make it OK to look stupid,” Posega said. “What I found is it had become a coming-of-age novel where everyone came of age except me.”

He notes that by the end of the book, “I met my wife and the start of the best years of my life.”

Posega will sell the books during a performance by his band, Get a Horse, at Otto’s, 118 E. Lincoln Highway in downtown DeKalb, on Saturday, Aug. 31. Doors open at 8 p.m. The book is priced at $10, and Posega said he will donate the proceeds from the first 100 books sold to Feed’em Soup. He hopes to make the books available locally and through Amazon.com in the near future.